Pope Francis’s body carried to St Peter’s Basilica

Pope Francis’s body has arrived at St Peter’s Basilica, where it will lie in state before his funeral on Saturday. The late pope, who died at the age of 88 on Easter Monday, was carried in an open wooden coffin by pallbearers some 500 metres from Casa Santa Marta, the residence where he lived and died. The bells of St Peter’s tolled as a procession of red-robed cardinals followed the coffin, escorted by Swiss Guards, through the same piazza where Francis had greeted the faithful from his “Popemobile” on Easter Sunday, hours before his death. Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the acting head of the Vatican until a new pope is elected, led the procession. Clouds of incense preceded the arrival of the coffin as the church choir began chanting the Litany of the Saints hymn. Read the best of our journalism: https://www.thetimes.com/ Subscribe to The Times and The Sunday Times YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/subscription_... Find us on Facebook:   / timesandsundaytimes   Find us on X: https://x.com/thetimes Find us on Instagram:   / thetimes   #pope #vatican #popefrancis